


Skeletons, Scenes, and Snippets

by PeaceHeather



Series: Marvel 'verse [9]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Scenes and snippets, Unfinished, story fragments
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-16
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-09 09:56:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 9,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4344032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeaceHeather/pseuds/PeaceHeather
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>These are little orphan story ideas that I may or may not ever flesh out, but which I wanted to share here for readers who might be curious for a glimpse into my writing process. I can make no guarantee as to whether or not I ever complete them, but the ideas just won't leave me alone unless I post them, however rough or unfinished they are. I hope you enjoy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Loki is Dying of Incomplete Soul Bond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Odin sentences Loki to banishment, but like Thor, offers him a chance to regain his powers and such if he connects with his soulmate, and even does something to show Loki who that person is. It kinda backfires, and now Loki is dying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This idea hasn't left me alone for a few days now, and dammit, I already have enough plot bunnies in my head. (And apparently my subconscious still thinks that there aren't enough soulmate fics in this fandom.)

Okay, so the way this works is that Loki returns home after the Avengers, and Odin's punishment is to strip him of his powers and all that good stuff, but since Loki doesn't have a magic mallet to tell him when he's back in Odin's good graces, Odin does a thing to reveal to Loki who his soulmate is supposed to be. Once Loki connects with his soulmate, he can have his powers back and come home.

Small problem - several small problems, actually:

  1. Loki's magic is not like Thor's ability to use a mallet. Having it removed is sort of like reaching in and trying to pull out all of somebody's blood vessels all at once. So now Loki is dying and in constant pain, from an invisible wound (his magic) that won't stop bleeding. (Important: I'm also debating whether or not Odin really takes Loki's magic or just restricts it severely, because I keep getting cool scene ideas where he has magic.)
  2. He's dying from something else, too, because with soul bonds, if you know who it is and don't go to them, you're essentially "rejecting" the bond or blocking it or whatever, which can kill you.
  3. Loki was mind-controlled (because we fans love that), which Odin never bothered to even ask about (because we fans love to hate him), and feels tremendously guilty for the things he did while he was not in control of his actions.



Loki's soulmate is human. In fact, his soulmate is one of the Avengers (I'm partial to Tony, but you can make it work with almost anyone (except Thor, because otherwise why banish him in the first place)). Whoever it is, Loki is convinced they would despise him because of everything he's done, and it's not like anyone would believe him if he tried to use the mind-control excuse, so he doesn't even try. But he doesn't want them to get stuck dying of a rejected bond either, so he decides to avoid them and just doesn't tell them he's their soulmate, figuring that as long as they don't know, they won't have any trouble. The humanity thing is important, because Loki knows they wouldn't suffer the way he knows he's going to.

Whether or not there's a plot twist there because of the humanity, I haven't decided - like, maybe humans DO suffer from an incomplete soul bond the way Aesir and Jotnar do, or maybe Loki's wrong and humans have a mark that tells them who their soulmate will be where Aesir and Jotnar just have to hope they find the person and the connection makes itself known. Something. I'm leaning away from that second one

Anyway. So. Loki goes to earth and pointedly avoids pretty much everybody. He's in a small town in Minnesota or Wisconsin (because Norse), keeping his head down, maybe using just enough magic to be able to afford a home and groceries and such, and is just essentially waiting out the days until he can die quietly and be done; I mean, the guy was suicidal recently and it's not like he's been given a whole lot of help to recover from that. Then he turns up on a camera somewhere and SHIELD are alerted; they come to his house loaded for bear, and he's just like, "Ah. Wondered if you would show up," and comes quietly.

Interrogation reveals that he's been here for a few months, and no, he's not plotting anything, this is his sentence and he's just keeping his head down, and Fury can tell something is different about him but isn't sure what it might be beyond defeat. But he does look pretty terrible, thinner, he moves like he's in constant pain (joint ache is the worst). They're worried about some kind of alien plague and Loki tries to vague it off as "no no, humans don't get this, you're fine" but Fury pushes and the truth comes out that he's soul-bonded. So why doesn't he want to just tell the person? Loki raises his eyebrow and asks him to imagine how the other person might feel to be bonded to the likes of him. And also, if they reject the bond they die too, and Loki really has enough innocent blood on his hands, thank you. Fury asks who it is and Loki says he's not going to say, but before they take him to his cell he leans in and whispers that it would be best to keep the Avengers away from him, and Fury gets the hint.

They stick Loki in a cell and as long as he has books he's fine. I have this one scene in my head - and this is why I think he still has some magic - where he asks the guard what day it is and they say Wednesday and he says, "oh. excuse me," and vanishes, and they freak out, but security cameras catch him back in his little town in wherever, and they catch up to him and he's sitting in church waiting for his neighbor lady to finish confession, and he explains that she goes every Wednesday and he walks her because she doesn't like to go alone, and anyway she thinks he's gay and dying of AIDS (that's not how he phrases it) and would be very upset if he didn't show up. And they watch as he walks her back home, keeping their distance so as not to scare her, and as soon as she's inside they arrest him again and take him back. Where he tells Fury he would have come back on his own, except he probably won't have the strength for that for much longer, but yeah, every Wednesday that he has the strength for, he's going to go take the little old lady to confession.

Natasha comes to see him at some point with some soup and he appreciates the courtesy but he hasn't had an appetite in ages, it's not like he's on a hunger strike or being rebellious or anything.

He eventually collapses in his cell and they move him to a hospital room to die, and Fury asks if he has any last words and he just says, "What color are my eyes?" Fury says green. Loki nods like that's a little bit of a relief. "What color were they when we first met?" and Fury gets it and demands to know why he never said anything, and Loki just says that the only reason Fury is willing to even entertain the notion that Loki is telling the truth right now is because Loki will be dead soon and it won't be his problem anymore. And finally he says that once he's dead, he wants Fury to take his body to the roof or an open place somewhere and call for Heimdall ("it's not very dignified, you are essentially shouting at the sky") and to have him pass on Loki's love for Frigga, his regret for Thor, and to Odin his hopes that he's satisfied with having sentenced his son to a slow lingering painful death. 'Cause Loki isn't exactly a saint. He's just too tired to fight anymore. And he warns him how to step back and give the body space in case Asgard decides to reclaim it for a funeral, but to also be prepared for Asgard to just not give a damn and leave him on Earth to rot, in which case an unmarked grave will be fine, so bring a shovel or something.

Dammit I just made myself cry.

And then he slips into unconsciousness.

Author's choice whether Fury notifies the Avengers, whether Tony sneaks in, whether Natasha lets something slip (or is his soulmate)... or whether a week later Fury is driving a body out to the middle of nowhere and doing what Loki asked. If he does get his soulmate and his magic back, there would need to be scenes from the soulmate's POV throughout the story and how they feel with an incomplete soul bond and all that good stuff, but all the ideas in my head mostly show Loki so I don't know how I would write any of that. I would want the return of Loki's magic to be quite the light show, but not for Loki to suddenly hop up out of bed magically all better. Like it would still take a few days for him to wake back up, and then godlike healing would kick in and he'd eat like a horse and recover inside of a month or two.

But he doesn't go back to Asgard except maybe long enough to get closure with Odin, grab an apple, and pack his stuff. He's finished with Asgard forever.

 


	2. Alternate Asgard With Caste System/Odin's Real Plan For Loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An Asgard with a warrior caste, to which Thor belongs, who are bloodthirsty and amoral, and generally unfit to lead civilians anywhere except off the proverbial cliff. There is also an administrator caste to which Loki and Odin belong. Odin's plans to crown Thor are a ruse; he always wanted to make Loki the true king.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This started as a comment on a very long thread which you can read [ here ](http://archiveofourown.org/comments/18088661). Kadorienne has a couple fics that paint Thor and/or Odin and/or Asgard, to varying degrees depending on the needs of the plot, as functionally sociopathic given their utter lack of morality, and we were trying to figure out a way to make that work and still have a functioning _society_ that didn't drive itself to extinction in one generation. Essentially, Loki is the good guy because he's not the same species and his mind functions closer to the way humans' minds do. There may or may not be a warrior caste rather than an entire warrior culture, partly as a means to keep the crazy people contained and working in a direction which benefits the people overall. Read her cathartic anti-TDW fic, "Enemy of My Enemy", to get a better feel for where we were coming from.

Posit two castes, the psycho warriors as described, and a calmer administrator caste. Odin has been both but as king is an administrator. JUST LIKE LOKI. Odin knows he's not strong enough as a warrior to stand up to Thor anymore, in his old age. He makes Thor king anyway, partly to appease him, but also figuring that one of three possible outcomes will occur: either Loki will be able to keep Thor in check, he *won't* be able to keep Thor in check and Thor will get himself killed, or Loki will get *tired* of keeping Thor in check and will allow or arrange for him to get killed. Thor dying, regardless of how, is actually the best outcome because it paves the way for Loki, a talented administrator with experience as a warrior, to ascend the throne unchallenged. Especially since his four sycophants are likely to follow him into battle and also get killed, and they're the ones most likely to pitch a fit if Loki somehow survives and Thor doesn't. Ideally, Loki cements his position with the warriors by marrying Sif, which also has the potential to neutralize her, because once she's married she's expected to settle down and make babies rather than go off killin' things.

(Yes, Loki is still a Jotun, but he's a shapeshifter, not just an illusionist. When he shifts to look like Odin, we see the glow of illusion magic covering him. When he shifts between Jotun and Aesir, we don't, so I'm sticking with him being able to father perfectly normal Aesir babies when he's in his Aesir form. Odin probably knows that, so as long as Loki never finds out he's Jotun or never switches to a Jotun form while he's in the midst of "fathering", he figures everything will be fine.)

So. In the first Loki movie, Odin tries to make Thor, his psychotic warrior son beloved of the warrior caste, the figurehead king with Loki the administrator supporting him. Loki screws up that plan, simply because he doesn't realize that Odin is thinking ahead that far. (If there's one flaw both Odin and Loki share, it's that as administrators they're both used to keeping secrets from EVERYBODY.) Thor goes off to Jotunheim and starts a war, and because Odin is still king, he has to do something about it. If Thor had waited even a week, Odin could have crowned him anyway, then he could have gone off to Jotunheim, Frigga and Odin would have persuaded them both that Loki needed to stay home because his chief advisor couldn't go gallivanting off like that anymore (assuming Loki needed to be convinced), and then Thor would get killed with his handful of dangerous psycho friends. Loki would ascend the throne. Potentially Odin would sit him down over a bottle of wine and explain that his poor brother was always destined to die violently and was mentally unfit for the throne. Or that the warrior caste were never meant to rule and that this was "his mistake as a father and he's so sorry". (Knowing Odin, probably not, but you never know.) Loki would either commit to obliterating Jotunheim, or would smooth things over by saying "he went mad, we don't condone, the new king of Asgard wishes to preserve the peace, terribly sorry, here have some wergild".

A few years into Loki's reign, Odin reveals to Loki that he's Jotun by birth, but instead of a meltdown, Loki realizes that his father made him king *anyway* and loves and trusts him with the safety of the Nine Realms and has always planned for him to inherit, and life is good, and oh, also, he *trusts* his son with the sacred duty to "bring about an alliance, bring about a permanent peace", and Loki's just so darn touched that there are happy tears and he continues to rule Asgard for a nice long time. Sif got killed on Jotunheim (they only made it there in the first place because Heimdall was in on the plan the whole time), so Loki marries Sigyn, they love each other very very much, and the Nine Realms flourish and prosper, the end.


	3. Dom/Sub verse with Loki and Thor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a universe where some people are Dominant or Submissive (depending on the verse others might be Switch or just baseline regular), Loki is a Dom who has been forced to act like a Sub since his older brother is the one expected to be the leader. Meanwhile Thor is a Sub who's been forced to act like a Dom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, go read ["All the Broken Pieces"](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3830761/chapters/8543983) by Shi_Toyu. I like the Dom/Sub dynamic a little better than the way ABO dynamics are often treated, and it made me curious where Loki and Thor might fit into that. It's also possible to explore, somewhat, real-world power exchange dynamics in a verse like this.

I sort of see this as an alternative Thor 1 timeline.

Thor is a Sub and has always had to hide it because he's the firstborn and heir to the throne; Loki's actually a Dom but has grown up with the knowledge that he's not allowed to be more dominant than Thor. So, Loki has been pushing himself into a submissive position in public (with all the attendant social expectations) while privately having to take care of his brother whenever Thor experiences a drop into sub headspace. (No slash. None. No. Do not want.)

Important to note: Dom and Sub are not Alpha and Omega. They do not go into heat. There is no knotting. There is no mpreg (yes, it makes sense that Loki _in his Jotun form_ could carry a child, but that's not what this story is about).

Having to cover who they really are has been difficult for them both:

  * The whole charade had been tearing Thor apart, because he has to live up to the expectations and pressures of a Dom when he's not wired for it, while dealing with the guilt of knowing that Loki has to cover up who he really is because of Thor's orientation.
  * It's been driving Loki absolutely nuts with frustration and resentment, having to allow other people to take the lead and refuse to put himself forward despite his instincts to control a situation, and having to allow Thor to take charge when he's not naturally good at it and makes horrible decisions. He covers his insecurity with bluster and arrogance All The Time and it's up to Loki to try and pull their asses out of the fire without looking like he's taking charge and without in any way seeming to tell Thor what to do.
  * Between all the stress and and guilt and resentment between the two of them, and the way the rest of the culture and especially Odin treats them both, their relationship as brothers has been damaged as well. Neither of them like that, because they both remember how close they used to be before all this orientation stuff kicked in.



So yeah, when they end up on Midgard they both go a little overboard with the easing of certain restrictions. Loki wants to dominate All The Things, while Thor wants to just not think for a while, and let Jane and Darcy and Erik tell him what to do without having to keep it together all the time for a change.

I don't know whether they arrive in the same ways as they did in the movies or not, but I just think it explains SO MUCH. I could totally see Loki deciding that discovering Odin has been hiding his heritage all this time, _along with_  all the nonsense with trying to force both his sons to be a different orientation, might be the last straw - like, instead of sticking around to prove himself, he says "fuck it" and goes to Earth also after Odin collapses. Somebody has to look after Thor, after all, and maybe knock some sense into him. Or, maybe he does take the throne, putting up with the W4 giving him shit because he's supposedly a Sub and how could he possibly be fit to lead (cue the gritted teeth and/or Loki absolutely _taking them apart_  now that he no longer has a reason to hold back). From the throne, he sees what Thor is getting up to on Earth and decides, you know, if his brother can get the mental vacation from all this crap, why can't he? In which case he still says "fuck it" and goes to Earth, probably right in time to pull Thor out of SHIELD after the whole retrieve-the-hammer thing.

Having them still meet the Avengers would be awesome. Assuming we follow the Thor 1 timeline, having Thor struggling to cover his sub instincts while dealing with SHIELD could be cool. Having Loki show up to rescue him and be a calm badass would be awesome. Each of them finding someone who actually fits with and likes their orientations would be terrific. If we stick with the Thor 1 timeline, I would vote Clint or Jane for Thor's Dom since Clint was all, "I'm starting to root for this guy"; no idea who would be Loki's sub.

Maybe the two of them getting their mojo back and discovering who they really are is enough for Thor to get his hammer back without any property destruction. But eventually the W4 come to retrieve their precious leader Thor and he's like, "What do you think, brother?" and defers to Loki which just confuses them all, and maybe this is a second or a first opportunity for Loki to tear them apart - and maybe even reveal that he's a Dom and always has been and _how do you like me now_ , and when they start treating him differently, Thor realizes they're lousy friends. They send the W4 back to Asgard with the message that they'll come back and rule Asgard when they're goddamn good and ready, and Odin can't just push them around anymore if he wants to have anything close to a competent king to take his place once he's gone.


	4. Mjolnir transformed to something embarrassing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From a prompt on Norsekink: Thor is too dependent on Mjolnir. Odin transforms Mjolnir into something embarrassing. Thor takes it into a fight with Loki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit where it is due to [ems4179](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ems4179/pseuds/ems4179) \- she posted the original prompt, and then the two of us bounced the idea around. I don't know that I'll ever write a full fic off of this, but wanted to preserve here the little bit that we had come up with.

 

 

**EMS's prompt:**

 

Odin is concerned that Thor is too reliant on Mjolnir but obviously can't take it from him in case of some emergency or other, instead, he changes its appearance to something so excruciatingly embarrassing that he hopes Thor will just leave it in his room.

Thing is, Odin is too late - despite the embarrassing new shape, Thor continues to take Mjolnir everywhere regardless as it still does its job. "Yup, that's actually our God of Thunder, walking around with a large (????) attached to his hip... Yes, you're right - Loki was considerably less odd than that..."

The new appearance can be whatever you prefer - a teddy bear, a dildo, haemorrhoid cream, a mini-version of Loki.... Whatever you deem to be most embarrassing but all the love if he has to go to Midgard and fight with the Avengers against Loki and his brother sees and just concedes the fight because he's too busy laughing his head off. He only laughs harder the more embarrassed that Thor becomes (because no one else dared to say something to Thor's face).

I think a serious case of genuine hilarity would be good for Loki's soul. Maybe that was even part of Odin's end goal, who knows.

* * *

 

 

(I suggested:)

 

Well, NOW I'm picturing Tom Hiddleston laughing himself silly, and I think I needed that because I love this prompt.

Pink glittery magic wand with a star on top that goes "ting!" every time Thor hits something with it.

 

 

* * *

EMS:

 

Ooh, that is brilliant - Thor stands in front of him, waving his little fairy wand threateningly (so tiny in his large hands, must surely have been designed for a six year old), and Loki knows it will hurt but, he's doubled over laughing, struggling to breathe, can't get a word out and the rest of the group can't help but laugh their asses off at the sight of it. Watching from Hlidskjalf, do you think even Odin might crack a smile at that? O.O!!

 

 

* * *

 

And then I came up with this:

 

And they arrest him and he doesn't even care, wiping his eyes with his hands cuffed together, and they get him on the plane and it looks like he's about to settle down... and then Tony leans over and just says, "ting!" and Loki completely loses it all over again.

 

  
And Thor sits down next to him, all glowering and scowly, and Loki wants to know if he's had to impersonate any brides lately, and "what vindictive hag did that to you, brother?" and Thor just says it was Odin, and Loki nods, and sighs, and says, "Odin is an ass." Although what he thought he was trying to accomplish, Loki sure doesn't know, but apparently the old man is slipping because all of his punishments lately have been stupid where Thor is concerned...

"How can you say that? I was banished for my actions on Jotunheim!"

"Oh, please, you were banished for three whole days, and you were cared for by beautiful women the entire time. Both of whom were smarter than you, I might add. Meanwhile he drove ME to commit suicide, tell me how that is supposed to compare."

And before long the two of them are actually TALKING for the first time in ages; because Loki thinks he maybe should be pissed off and self-righteous, but honestly that was the best laugh he's had in years and he just doesn't have the heart to pick a fight right now, and really it's not like Thor knew about any of the stuff Odin was hiding, he's just easier for Loki to take his anger out on...

"And why is that, Loki? Truly. I know I have wronged you in the past, I see that now, but why do I receive the brunt of all your rage?"

"Hm. Well, I suppose because it was easier. I mean I can't exactly pound Odin into the dirt. And... and I suppose, somewhere in my blackened heart, I still understood that you would always be my brother no matter what I did."

Cue tearful hugging and reconciliation while the Avengers sort of stare and eavesdrop in appalled fascination, until Loki gets another look at Mjolnir and goes "*snrrk*" and Tony goes "ting!" again and Thor glares at Tony but Loki just does some magic equivalent of shoving his face back. Because of course the handcuffs aren't doing a damn thing to stop his magic even though they're supposed to. This pisses Tony off when he realizes it, until Loki leans forward, looks him dead in the eye, and says, "ting!"


	5. Mystical Road trip with Loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically if you've ever read Shaduw Wereld or When It Sings, When It Lies, it's that same prompt only with the Avengers instead of the Warriors Three and Sif.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just recently read When It Sings, When It Lies and it not only reminded me what a great prompt that was, it neatly fit an idea that's been bubbling in my head while I've been too busy to add chapters to Fate's Guardian or Grievance. I'm adding this via my phone so excuse the hideous typos and possible gibberish that will no doubt occur. Auto correct is not my friend.

The Avengers are fighting the baddie of the week when Thor takes a bad hit and goes down. Suddenly next to him they see a young ponytailed man in jeans and a white button down shirt (and bare feet?), and they're trying to yell at the civilian to get to safety when he stands up and murderizes the alien standing over Thor and gloating. He pulls a weapon out of nowhere and as he fights they watch Loki's armor materialize on him, which provokes about the degree of happiness you'd expect. 

Only Loki doesn't seem to be the Avengers' problem today, given the way he's standing protectively over Thor and cutting a swath through the aliens/bad guys. Like, first he systematically takes apart the one that got Thor, ending with a beheading, then turns to the rest of them and spits something in a foreign language that probably means something like "Who's next?" followed by Loki going to town in grand style. 

But the Avengers don't trust him of course, plus Thor is only slowly getting back up, so most of them end up fighting near him for his own protection. Once he's up and into the fight again, Loki takes a step back and gets ready to vanish... and then one of the bad guys throws some kind of spell/energy weapon/mulligan, and Loki goes diving back in, and then magic happens. 

From there it's basically the original prompt. They wake up in a swamp, largely unharmed but with a catatonic Loki and no idea where they are or how to get back. Cue "Life-Changing Road Trip With Zuko" trope! Badass Loki is their guide between worlds; awesome places are visited, amazing and weird sights are seen, questions are asked, trust is established, respect is gained. Loki saves their asses more than once as he navigates treacherous territory and bizarre cultures. Not sure if Thor is there or if he dodged the blast (or if Loki was able to do what he planned and protect Thor but trying the same thing with the other Avengers caused the spell to go wonky). Hell, maybe the Warriors and Sif were there as part of the battle and some of them are included on the trip too. 

In the original prompt they made it back home by appearing in the middle of a war council as Asgard prepared to take on/placate Jotunheim. In this one I figure they'd come back as SHIELD is prepping for war or right as Fury is getting ready to declare them all dead. Maybe they're on the verge of surrendering to the alien invasion? Launching a nuke? Dunno. (Comment and give me ideas.) But they all come staggering through, minds blown and tired but largely unharmed, while Loki is either exhausted from the intense magic plus guiding, or else calm and cool (but secretly ready to drop). Of course Fury wonders about mind control or his people being compromised. Thor is there and ready to fulfill his duties on the bear-hug front. Chaos ensues as half the people in the room want to throw Loki into a cell, while the other half very much don't and are trying to take care of him and offer him a place to sit or grab him a coffee to revive him a little, etc. 

Maybe have some aftermath where the group is all recovering quietly the next day or a few days later. Maybe unhappy because they've all been given the medical all-clear and sent home to rest while Loki was put in a cell despite protests. Maybe sitting together quietly tapping away on laptops while trying to figure out how the hell they're going to debrief from this one. Maybe Fury looking in on a docile, cooperative, polite (exhausted, sound asleep) Loki and wondering just what the heck really happened. Loki waking up from his nap and bidding a polite farewell before vanishing. Does he go to the tower afterward? Does he disappear and only run into someone on the street several days/weeks later? Dunno. It's a skeleton, not a fic, I haven't figured that out yet. 

All Father turn up and deus ex machina pardon Loki for whatever? Or is he already dead and no one cares/Thor has authority to issue the full pardon? Eh. Maybe not. Might clutter the plot too much. 

But yeah. Road trip with Loki. Essentially "Shaduw Wereld" or "When It Sings, When It Lies" only with the Avengers instead. (Not far off from "The Bargain" by Lotus Fantasy, really, come to think of it.) Has this plot line been overdone? 


	6. How Loki really became the God of Chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An outgrowth from [this prompt](http://norsekink.livejournal.com/13205.html?thread=33702293#t33702293) on Norsekink, with thanks to ems4179 as always.

The original prompt was that Odin did not stop Loki from taking over Midgard because of Thanos or the Tesseract - because let's face it, he couldn't care less about us goats - but because if Loki succeeded in taking over, he would end up (possibly inadvertently) reintroducing magic to humanity. And Odin didn't want that, whether it was because we would be a threat, because he was protecting us, or because then he would have to start showing us something like actual respect.

Fellow commenter ems4179 and I started to run with this idea, and pulled in some premises from other fics that we like, namely [Changing Fate](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4143219/chapters/9345453) by MelWinter, where she talks about a way to stifle a person's magical strength with a painless (undetectable, in fact) "cap" that limits how much magical energy they have access to. We decided that it was Odin himself who had originally capped all of humanity - and I freely admit this is a blatant lift straight out of Changing Fate - and somehow Loki found out about it.

EMS, from the prompt thread:

> This idea came to my head because I was reading a fic where Loki admitted that he was not interested in Midgard - not really - because what use would he have for a world without magic.. I think I would like to see him succeed with his plan, because Odin's dismissal of Jane still rankles - how did he expect Loki to show respect to mortals when he did not? Can you imagine his face if he had to take Midgard as seriously as the rest of the realms?

Because let's face it, Odin is a blazing hypocrite, imprisoning Loki for his invasion of Midgard while simultaneously referring to humans as essentially dirty domestic farm animals that shouldn't be allowed in the house. Nice. Stay classy, Odin.

So.

Loki, having had quite enough of Odin's lies and secrets and machinations, decides that humanity deserves not to have that cap in place anymore. His motives could be benevolent, vindictive (toward Asgard  _or_ Earth), self-serving (more people strong enough to fight Thanos and not be cannon fodder), or any combination thereof. The results could be mass chaos, or not.

From the prompt thread:

>  Loki finds this out, while disguised as Odin perhaps. He comes back to Earth thinking that the best way to say "Screw you" to Asgard is to remove the cap. Doing that also has the potential to cause a WHALE of a lot of chaos, which will be entertaining in and of itself and also serve as a bit of a "screw you" to Earth for defeating his invasion.  
>   
> Suddenly mutants are the least of humanity's problems; there are infants and toddlers manifesting magic every time they throw a tantrum, adolescents with NO idea what is going on, adults suddenly realizing that they actually can get whatever they want... some people thinking of curing disease and restoring the environment, other people thinking of overthrowing governments or establishing "the master race" (either vanilla human or magic human)... religious groups scramble to explain the magic in good terms or bad... basically it all goes crazy.  
>   
> Alternately, the magic manifests very gently and slowly, kind of like the change of seasons; a few people here and there notice strange things happening but they have time to get used to it before more changes occur; there are only a small percentage of people able to use magic, with a _considerably_  larger percentage able to feel it or otherwise perceive it in some way, like, at least half the population can suddenly see or feel this new energy, and a smattering of them can actually touch it and shape it.  
>   
> And then there's Loki. Does he just kick back and watch from the shadows, smiling as the changes manifest all over the world? Does he gloat to Fury or SHIELD that gosh it sure would be helpful if they had anyone around who knew how to manage this phenomenon and guide people through it? Does he set himself up as a teacher/spiritual leader/head of a political faction/benevolent god? Does he just find a handful of people whom he decides he likes and teach them in secret, then let them go out and spread what they've learned?

EMS prefers the more benevolent reasoning, incidentally; that Loki empathises with people are are suffering under a limitation that they don't even realize they have. In fact, she suggests, this might even be why humans make war on one another, because we can somehow sense that we lack something even if we don't know what it is, and it throws off balance as a result.

More of my thoughts from the thread:

> Loki... Loki wants to protect the realms from Thanos. His initial gambit to call attention to the threat worked to a point, but the humans think that having defeated Loki was sufficient to solve the problem, and the Aesir aren't smart enough (are too arrogant and complacent) to ask any deeper questions. So Loki needs to try again. If he removes the cap on human magical potential, he gives them a major advantage that could make the difference if Thanos ever tries to return.  
>   
> He's not entirely altruistic here, he's Loki after all, but the fuck-you to Odin and Asgard is more of a side benefit. Keeping Thanos occupied with difficult targets is definitely preferable to making it easy for him to find Loki and torture him for eternity. And, yes, there's a kinder side of him that doesn't appreciate the lies Odin has spread, and doesn't want to see another entire civilization being made a victim of Odin's schemes.

And then after some discussion, I had this thought:

> THIS is where Loki earns his title as God of Chaos. Because he decides he's going to go all through the realms, systematically ripping off the blinders that people have been wearing thanks to Odin's machinations. It's a personal vendetta, but he's really, REALLY good at it. 
> 
> In fact, maybe he's not so much the god of lies as he is the _master_ of them, because he can demolish them with just a well-timed observation here or a dropped hint there, and the "god of lies" thing is just a mistranslation (or a grumpy Asgard trying to saddle him with that title). Earth just happens to be the place where he _starts_. He'll pop back in every few months or so to check on how things are percolating, but he's elsewhere the rest of the time (which drives SHIELD nuts, since they can never find the little shit no matter how hard they look).

So. Loki as a dismantler of schemes and plots that have been in the works for thousands of years, all across the galaxy, now traveling pretty much all over the place and waking people up to the truth, breaking open the scandals, toppling Asgard's supremacy, and oh, on Midgard, restoring magic to a world that was almost completely unable to access it before he came along. Hero? Villain? Nah. Tricksters are both.


	7. Platonic soulmates for Loki and Thor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pretty much just what it says on the tin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a skeleton that I originally had to take down because it was presented as a prompt, which violates AO3's terms of use. I've reworked it a bit so that it's clear this is one of my own story ideas still under construction, and I am not officially soliciting fills from anybody. 
> 
> So, you know, if it looks familiar, that's why.

Pretty much just what it says on the tin.  
  
Humans have both romantic and platonic soulmates, while on Asgard they're only romantic. I haven't decided whether Loki has any marks at all, or how soul marks work in this fic—they seem to be different in every fic, just about. But Thor and Loki come to Earth, and are quite confused to discover they have developed new markings. Maybe the type of mark is different also, like they've never seen a soul mark consisting of writing before, or something like that.  
  
It's possible that they come to Midgard in the same way as in the movies, or this might be completely AU; I haven't decided which. Not sure yet if they have single or multiple soulmates. Thor and Loki might share one or more soulmates, not sure yet, although that might be a way to help them reconcile after Thor 1.

Basically I want them to come to Earth and be baffled at the notion of having more than one soulmate (are they broken, how could anyone be so incomplete that they need more than one person to match their soul?), and even more confused at the idea that these would not be romantic soulmates.  
  
Things I really want to include in some fashion:  
  
+Loki being all vulnerable because no one had ever really wanted to be close to him before now without wanting something in return  
  
+Thor actually being Jane's platonic soulmate, not romantic, and her having to convince him to keep it in his pants (ooh! Or maybe they do have sex or try to and then Thor can't figure out why he feels like he was kissing his sister, ew)  
  
+Darcy. Don't care in what capacity, soulmate or not. If she's the one to explain the concept to one or both of them, or just talk sense into them in general, that would be awesome. (I just love Darcy, DAMMIT.)  
  
+one or more of Loki's soulmates being flabbergasted at who it is, and possibly conferring with one another to figure out what to do  
  
+Loki originally convinced that this is somebody's idea of a really shitty joke and he is Not Amused, unapproachable, etc (but secretly pining a bit although he'd never admit it)  
  
+Asexual Loki. Not necessary but it opens up some neat possibilities. Like maybe this is why he's got no other soul marks, if the author chooses to go that route.

Basically I just need more soulmate fics in this fandom and am willing to take one for the team and write one eventually.


	8. God of Chaos, part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A continuation of the ideas presented in chapter 6. Backstory and larger themes/plot arcs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EMS and I were continuing to talk over the prompt idea in chapter 6 when she sparked something that I really, _really_ liked.

EMS4179 and I seem to really bounce ideas off one another well; she comes up with stuff and I run with it for a bit, and then I say something that grabs her and she runs with it, and so on and so on. Regarding the Loki-unleashes-magic thread that became the basis for Chapter 6, she said the following:

> what if each human is born with only a small amount of magic (compared to the Aesir etc) but Odin noted that if they combined their magic it grew stronger. He also noted the rate at reproduction occurred and realised that eventually, humans were going to be a huge problem - six billion people with a little magic joining together against the Aesir could be an actual threaT. Of course Odin put a cap on that!  
>   
> I mean, obviously Odin considered genocide but, the humans worshipped him - it's be such a shame to lose that.

And this just GRABBED me, I mean, holy cow. This is what I came up with, and wrote on MY PHONE with all the stupid auto-correct things in my way.

> Ooooh, that's good.   
>   
> Actually, he's horrible and wouldn't care about the worship. He's actually tried genocide, that's where all the stories of Ragnarok come from, but we pesky humans breed like roaches and he just couldn't kill us off without taking measures that would have threatened all of Yggdrasil. **(Oh my god I just realized he's the one who sent the Jotnar to Midgard in the first place with secretly supplied misinformation, then turned around and let them take the fall and used it as an excuse to humiliate and oppress them!)** But if he showed even the capacity, much less the willingness, to use such measures, you can bet the other realms would have united  _in a heartbeat_  to bring Asgard down.)  
>   
>  **So the cap was Odin's plan B,** and it worked just fine, so he was able to turn his back and leave Midgard to their own devices. He made up some story about the humans being under Asgard's "protection" so that no one else from the other realms would be willing to get too close and discover the cap themselves. And then he just left them to rot, they never advanced much beyond a primitive little backwater that would never pose a threat.   
>   
>  And then along comes Loki. Not Thor - Thor was stripped of his powers before being thrown down to our world, so he would have had no way to notice the cap, and no capacity to disturb it even if he did discover it. But Loki, though, he's a problem. Odin wants him back in Asgard ASAP, and hope he's not too late by the time Thor is done.   
>   
> Unfortunately, it soon becomes clear to Odin that Loki did figure out his dirty little secret, so now, to ensure his silence, Odin's only options are either to execute him or to imprison him forever. Yes, harsh and unfair when comparing the brothers' crimes and their subsequent punishments, but Odin has another agenda now besides just enforcing the law. Hence not much of a trial, hence being forbidden to communicate even with his mother, hence even ordering Frigga out of the courtroom lest Loki let something slip before Odin can put him away forever. From there it's easy, just a quick sentencing and then pop him into a cell he'll never see the outside of again.  
>   
> But the Norns aren't best pleased with this imbalance. All the nine races are their children and all are meant to be equal, to respect one another and meet in kindness and friendship. Bor was bad enough, the Norns only barely managed to save a tiny remnant of Dark Elves. Now Odin is continuing the oppression with the Jotnar and humans both. The Dark Elves are their first gambit to shake things up, and it works beautifully. Odin is thrown off balance by the death of his wife (who, dead or not, might also prove to be a valuable card in their hand later, if necessary), Asgard is dealt a harsh blow which shakes them up even more than usual because they've been complacent for millennia, and Loki is free.   
>   
> Loki being out and both able and willing to wreak havoc against Asgard's hegemony makes the Norns very, very happy indeed. If all goes according to prediction, they won't even need to come tell him what to do; he's more than predisposed to knock the All-Father down a few pegs all by himself. Probably won't even need their help much, although from here on it he's likely to discover he's stumbled onto a run of mysteriously good luck... as long as he behaves.

So. Now I have backstory and some over-arching themes. Loki is out, post-TDW, and he's in a mood to Fuck Some Shit Up, but he's not Thor. He's done trying to _be_ Thor, or Aesir for that matter. He's not one for yelling a battle cry and charging straight in, no. He's going to whisper a little truth in the ears of the Jotnar about why they've been so utterly subjugated for so long (hint, for the same reason you keep the junkyard dog always a little hungry). He's going to whisper to the right people in Vanaheim just how much Odin really respected their "alliance", and to the elves something about the odd imbalance in the flow of magic throughout all Yggdrasil, and hmm, what might be causing that? He's going to go to Earth, find the last tiny surviving remnant of the Dark Elves that were on that ship before it was destroyed, and he's going to bring them to safety in Svartalfheim. He'll go back to the light elves and mention something about long-lost brothers and sisters who desperately need their help.

And then he's going to come back to Midgard and lift that fucking cap on the humans' magic.

When he can, he will drop hints into the ears of people (groups) that he likes; peaceful societies like Nepal or Tibet, maybe, civilized governments like the ones in Scandinavia, certain observant tribal elders and leaders in the poorest parts of Africa, a few talented shamans in North and South America. You know, people like that - people who either saw what Loki did as soon as he did it, or who will grasp its importance and respond accordingly and appropriately.

SHIELD? They get tantalizing hints that  _someone_ did  _something,_ but no matter where they go, nobody is talking. And anyway they don't even find out until the manifestations start happening and the mass hysteria starts. It doesn't last long, though, even the anti-mutant groups and religious assholes shut up pretty quickly, terrified because oh god, half _their_ members are showing strange abilities _too_. 

About the time things begin to settle out, and the magic begins not only to be public knowledge (it's been that for awhile now) but publicly  _acknowledged_ , why then is about the time they spot Loki, smiling into a traffic camera as he walks into a building where they're holding an international summit on how to manage this new phenomenon. It's mostly academic, people presenting observations, speculating on the value of old folklore, that kind of thing, but there are government officials there too, diplomats and UN representatives and even a few heads of state, trying to figure out what to do, where to go from here, what it all means.

SHIELD, naturally, treats this as a massive terror alert, and sends in the Avengers... only nobody is there. At least, nobody threatening... sure, their newly-built detectors are picking up on magic users in the room, but hell, they pick up on magic users all  _over_ the place, including among the Avengers themselves. What the hell are they supposed to do now? So Bruce suggests sticking around for academic reasons (he's pretty damn happy with the new phenomenon since he and the Hulk have reached an accord and even something approaching a friendship, now that they're able to communicate with one another clearly). Natasha and Clint of course fully intend to scope the room from the shadows. Tony's new abilities are still a little shaky and unpredictable, his arc reactor does strange things to the energy fields all around him, so it might actually be safest if he clears out (bit of a role reversal between him and Bruce, which is weird enough all on its own and Tony  _does not like_ ). Steve? Steve hasn't noticed a single change, really, other than certain wispy afterimages he used to get sometimes are now a little clearer and more vivid. Seems that serum he took back in the 40s merely brought him to the place that the rest of humanity is now catching up to.

There's a woman giving a lecture who looks vaguely familiar, but doesn't ring any alarm bells or turn up in any quick search. She's calm, knowledgeable, engaging, even entertaining. She claims to have collected insights from cultures around the world, maybe a little bit suspiciously fast given that the phenomenon (Tony refuses to call it "magic", dammit) is so new, but she explains that this was her field for years before, and now her abilities seem to allow her to hunt up such information even faster, and people sort of shrug and go, yeah, plausible. There's just one slip in her speech, and Natasha catches it, when she says something about "realms". Apart from that, she seems to have the most concrete, useful knowledge of anybody there, and her session goes more than twice its allotted slot as the Q&A gets going. She gets a standing ovation from the capacity crowd once she's done, even the heads of state bending their dignity a little to acknowledge the value of her expertise.

Of course, SHIELD decides they just  _have_ to talk to her, and send Natasha around to intercept her in her "Natalie" persona...

Natasha gets out to the front lobby of the lecture hall, where the woman is accepting invitations to speak elsewhere and trading business cards with everybody who comes in arms' reach. Just before Natasha gets close, the woman explains that even with these new abilities, she's still a bit jetlagged from all her travel and would like to go back to her hotel. Oh, but if you need to reach her, perhaps this evening after she's had a chance to rest, well, she's in the Such-and-Such Really Well-Known High-End Hotel just up the street a little ways. She smiles and gives her polite farewells, and walks to the door in the middle of a crowd of people  _still_ clamoring for her attention, which Natasha is absolutely a part of.

The woman steps into a waiting cab, and Natasha, smooth operator that she is, insinuates herself inside as well and shuts the door.

"Where to, lady?" says the cab driver.

And Natasha looks to the woman to see what she'll say, only...

The woman has completely vanished.


	9. Asgard's Magic Users Go On Strike

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asgard's magic users go on strike and come to Earth with a badly injured Loki, after Odin tries to punish him by stripping his magic from him. SHIELD isn't quite sure what to do with an entire village of hundreds of magic-using Aesir, who are all peaceful but also all very firmly on Loki's side, thank you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am currently working on this fic for my first-ever entry into NaNoWriMo 2015. I will return to writing Grievance once November is over and I can safely come up for air.

SHIELD gets the call that Earth is being invaded. They head to Iceland, loaded for bear, only to find a brand new village out in the middle of nowhere, peacefully going about its business. Except further observation shows that nearly everyone there is a woman, and these women have some pretty funky abilities. And, you know, the village didn't exist last month, or whenever.  
  
Cautious first contact is made, and it comes out that the women (and handful of men, and quite a few younger kids) all have peaceful intentions, but they are also all from Asgard. And Loki is with them, sort of. Over coffee, the full story comes out:  
  
See, Odin, like Thor, doesn't actually have much in the way of natural magical talent. He uses magical gadgets like his throne and his spear, but he's not a mage. Very few Aesir men are born with the skill and those that have it don't get a lot of respect because Asgard is like that.   
  
So Odin really had no idea how harsh a punishment it would be to try and take Loki's magic away. He was horrified when Loki began screaming in agony, and appalled to discover he had nearly killed his son.   
  
He wasn't the only one appalled. The magic users of Asgard, seeing this as a massive failure on Odin's part to understand, respect, or even know the first thing about them, decided that they weren't safe in Asgard anymore and that if Asgard didn't want them, Asgard could learn to get by without them. So, over the course of several weeks, every last healer, crafter, far-traveler, diviner, you name it, quietly found an excuse to leave Asgard through the secret paths, and the last ones to leave broke Loki out of the restricted section of the hospital and brought him with them to Midgard. Loki's magic is so badly damaged that being on Asgard, surrounded by its ambient magic, was keeping him in pain and near death. Midgard is his best chance at recovering at all, ever.   
  
SHIELD demands to get a look at Loki. He's still lying unconscious in a healing room, tended 24/7. SHIELD checks around and finds that they've all been behaving themselves, keeping to the village for the most part except for trips to the nearest town for supplies. Iceland certainly has no complaints about them, they're just weirded out. SHIELD also hears the healers' assessment that Loki is recovering from prolonged torture and there are signs of lingering damage from the effects of mind control magic, which changes the game pretty significantly for them. 

Meanwhile, Asgard struggles to cope with the sudden mysterious disappearance of a significant slice of their population, and beyond the Void, the Chitauri are on the move, hungry for revenge.


	10. Frigga, Queen Regent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Thor 1, Thor is banished, Odin is asleep, so Frigga takes the throne. Loki? Sure he's their son and they love him, but he's still underage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See also a really great fic, ["Few So Generous"](http://archiveofourown.org/works/363041) by galaxysoup. I've looked but can't find any more fics in this vein really, so if you know of any, please tell me in the comments!
> 
> I have finally written a variation of this skeleton, titled "Queen Regnant".

Frigga takes the throne instead of Loki after Odin falls into the Odinsleep and Thor is banished. It's nothing against Loki, he just isn't of age yet and after all that's the only reason they had for giving the throne to that idiot Thor. Frigga was against the whole idea from the beginning, but then she's been against a lot of things her husband decided to do without her input.

I have seen exactly one fic that addresses this, and I liked it but I thought it didn't go far enough. That queen was worried for her husband and her sons, and reigned gently. I want more of an Eleanor of Aquitaine feel—ruthless and not to be trifled with. Heimdall is ordered to close the Bifrost in preparation for war, then summoned to the throne room and ordered to surrender his sword, since after all he was responsible for allowing Thor and his cohort to go to Jotunheim in the first place. Then she summons the W4 and demands to know what the hell they were thinking, they were allowed to be friends with the prince because they were expected to be able to temper his hotheadedness with something approaching sound judgement, and instead every last one of them decided to just roll over and become his lapdogs. They could have been killed.

Actually, no, she doesn't summon them. She waits until they're stupid enough to come in and make demands of their king, and then discover that it isn't Odin on the throne after all. Then she tears them a new one, apiece, orders Hogun back to Vanaheim "where his services are needed more by his own people", Volstagg back to his family, etc etc.

As in the fic, Frigga sets Loki to learning about Jotunheim, partly to teach him about his people but mainly because, dude, he's the only prince on site and someone needs to see if there's a way for them to back down from war.

Mind you, she's not best pleased with him, and he's not innocent in this. His scheming led to the deaths of two royal guardsmen, and he'll be expected to pay wergild and attend their funerals as the representative of the royal family. Give condolences to the family, that kind of thing.

Thor stays the hell on Midgard. Possibly Loki goes down to get him out of SHIELD holding and maybe even answer some questions for them. Possibly he smacks Thor upside the head for stupidity since it's not _about_ the damn hammer, moron.

Eventually Odin wakes up. Probably not so abruptly, since he doesn't need to dash in at the last second to save anyone from imminent death. By this time Loki and Laufey have negotiated something, maybe even using the Casket, which annoys Odin a little because that isn't what he would have wanted, but in Thor 1 he wasn't actually horrible and Loki needs the reassurance, and so on, so he lets it slide.

Eventual happy ending, but Frigga is the focus and she is not this, this decorative serene motherly type. She's the fuckin' queen and nobody better mess with that.


	11. Loki Brought Back from the Dead to Fight Thanos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Thanos's forces attack Earth, things don't look good... until Hela resurrects Loki to fight beside them. Loki, however, is not at all happy to have been dragged back to face the only being he's ever truly feared.

Loki actually died on Svartalfheim, and his soul was collected; whichever afterlife he went to after that is undecided (Valhalla to see his mom? Helheim for his daughter/friend/former colleague (I haven't decided on their relationship yet)?).

Thanos took advantage of the Convergence, while no one was looking, to move his forces closer to the Nine Realms, and not long after that they started attacking Midgard--the realm with the fewest defenses and greatest number of access points to the other realms.

The Avengers and the world's military have come together (along with maybe the mutants or allied aliens, whatevs), but they're getting worn down and they know it. Thor is there, sooort of representing Asgard, but Odin himself is being pissy as he was in TDW, and refuses to send aid.

Then Hela shows up. Talks to Fury and says, "You people need another ally. I'm going to provide you with one. You won't like who it is. I don't care. If you want to save your realm and all the rest of the Nine, you'll listen to him."

She holds up one hand and there is a glowing light which, when asked, she explains is the soul of the dead hero. With her other hand she crafts a body from the inside out, bones first, viscera, nerves and muscles and all the rest, and just when before the skin goes on and it starts to become recognizable, she plunges the soul into its chest, there's a bright flash of light, they can all hear the newly resurrected person take its first gasping breath, and then she is gone.

The hero, naked as the day he was born, collapses to the ground. They roll him over, and surprise! It's Loki.

Fury and the assembled Avengers (all of them? Is this post-Civil War? Are they getting along at all?) look at each other. Foremost among them is the question: "Now what?"

Loki wakes not long after, and is NOT happy to have been brought back from his rest, taken from wherever he was, and told to go fight the only being he truly fears alongside "allies" who he's pretty sure still despise him. Hela shows up and they argue, and she informs him that she won't allow him to take his life until the threat has been dealt with. He is effectively immortal.

Alternately: Hela doesn't disappear right away. Loki wakes up, confused and lost and WOOBIE WHERE ARE THE BLANKETS AND HOT SOUP, and recognizes Hela, who explains to him the situation. Plays out the same either way.

This could be gen (you know me), or I might actually try to ship Loki with someone. But I haven't written this partly because I only just came up with it, partly because I'm busy with other fics, and partly because I still have the following questions.

-Is Hela the same person as Mistress Death? Is Loki now in the same boat as Thanos, trying desperately to get Hela's attention?  
-Is Loki more melancholy or angry? Everything he cares about keeps getting ripped away from him to he can be put to use for others' ends.  
-Do the Avengers, whoever you use, come around to trust Loki? Does he ever trust them?  
-If post-Civil War, do the Avengers reconcile? 

All I know for sure is that Thanos threatens both the living and the dead if he gets all the Infinity Stones, so Hela decided to do her part, sort of, to win the fight without unleashing all the dead and starting Ragnarok.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading these! If you want to leave extra kudos, you're welcome to stop by [my Tumblr blog](http://peaceheather.tumblr.com) and say hello.


End file.
